Kim Charlson, Vice-President, American Council of the Blind

AD Logo

"The American Council of the Blind, through its AudioDescription Project, believes it is critical for knowledgeable users of description to establish these guidelines / best practices for audio description as it occurs in a broad range of formats: television/film/DVDs/downloads, performing arts, visual art and other areas. Only in this way can we be certain of receiving a consistent, high-quality product, developed in a professional environment.”

Kim Charlson, Vice-President, American Council of the Blind

Chair, Audio Description Project Committee

August 2009

“The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
- Letter by Mark Twainto George Bainton, October 15, 1888

AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND’S

AUDIO DESCRIPTION PROJECT

AUDIO DESCRIPTION GUIDELINES

and BEST PRACTICES

September2010 – A Work In Progress

Version 3.1 – Joel Snyder, Editor

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface ………………………………………………………………….

Definitions ………………………………………... …………………

Core Skills .……………………………………………………………..

Performing Arts ..…………………………………………………...

Theater ………………………………………..

Dance ………………………………………….

Opera ………………………………………….

Media……..…………………………………………......

Visual Art / Exhibitions ……………………………………………

Appendix A – Storm Reading AD script excerpt / web link …………..

Appendix B – LMA “locomoting” vocabulary ………………………..

Appendix C – DustAD script excerpt / web link ………………………

Appendix D – Color of ParadiseAD script excerpt / web link ……….

Appendix E – Equipment providers (“live” description) …………………

INDEX.………………………………………………………………….

PREFACE

These Guidelines/Best Practices have been gathered / developed and are an ongoing work-in-progress by the ACB’s Audio Description Project chaired by ACB’s Vice President Kim Charlson. The word “gathered” is used since the work here is not, by and large, new: it is a “review of the literature,” a culling of material that exists in documents that are widely available. Generally, those documents are not the result of scientific research. But they reflect and in turn these Guidelines/Best Practices are based on many years of experience with audio description in a wide range of contexts.

The Guidelines/Best Practices are intended to be overarching in nature, i.e., they are written to apply to audio description generally no matter the subject being described or the particular format or genre in which description is used. There are, of course, significant differences in describing media as opposed to developing a tour for a museum exhibition. Consequently, we have developed sub-sets of these Guidelines/Best Practices that focus on Performing Arts, Media, and Visual Art.

An initial draft of this document was reviewed by the public on a wikidot.org web page throughout June 2009 and was discussed in depth at the Audio Description Project Conference in Orlando, Florida, July 6-8, 2009. This version of these Guidelines/Best Practices was reviewed by a Guidelines Committee including Kim Charlson, ACB’s Vice-President and Head Librarian, the Perkins School for the Blind; Fred Brack, webmaster, Lohman formerly of the Described and Captioned Media Program; Rick Boggs of We See TV; Bryan Gould of WGBH; Lisa Helen Hoffman, Audio-Description Consultant, Trainer and Patron of Audio-Description Services of LHH Consulting;Deborah Lewis, CEO, Arts Access Now, founding member, Audio Description Coalition; Nina Levent, Art Education for the Blind, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Christopher Gray, immediate past president of the American Council of the Blind; and Joel Snyder, Director, Audio Description Project) and will now be posted on the web for further input from anyone interested via a wikidot.org page. The committee will monitor and review all contributions and our goal is to have a final version made public by mid-2010.

Finally, we want to credit with a large measure of appreciation the original source material on which this document is based. The material includes:

- Art Education for the Blind’s “Making Visual Art Accessible to People Who Are Blind and Visually Impaired”

- Audio Description Coalition Standards and Code of Conduct (the ADC Code of Conduct is reprinted, with permission, at the end of this document

- “Audio Description Techniques” by Joe Clark (Canada)

- “Audio Description: The Visual Made Verbal” by Joel Snyder fromThe Didactics of Audio Visual Translation, edited by Jorge Diaz Cintas, John Benjamins Publishing, London, England and on-line course for Fractured University

- Described and Captioned Media Program “Description Key” (developed by DCMP and the American Foundation of the Blind)

- ITC (Independent Television Commission) Guidance on Audio Description (U.K.)

- National Captioning Institute Described Media “Style Guide”

DEFINITIONS

Audio Description (AD)

Audio Description (AD) is a tool for people who are blind or have low vision that provides access to the visual aspects of theater, media, and visual art—and any activity where images are a critical element. Using words that are succinct, vivid, and imaginative, describers convey visual information that is either inaccessible or only partially accessible to a segment of the population. In addition, description may also benefit people who prefer to acquire information primarily by auditory means and those who are limited—by proximity or technology, for instance—to accessing audio of an event or production.

The Audio DescriptionUser / Patron

The principal patrons of audio description are people who happen to be blind or have

low vision. Who are “the blind”? They are not "the blind." They are individuals -- housewives, scientists, artists, business people ... or, of course, any of us who happen to develop vision loss.

People who listen to audio description are unique individuals living with some degree of vision loss as the result of a wide range of causes. Most at one point had all or some of their sight and now they may have only peripheral vision, they may see only shapes, light and dark, colors, movement, shadows, blurs, or “blobs” -- or have "tunnel vision." Most users of description are not totally blind; indeed, only 1-2% of the legally blind are congenitally blind (blind from birth); others are adventitiously blind or developed total blindness later in life. Only 10% know Braille.

The American Foundation for the Blind reports that 25.2 million Americans have vision loss (i.e., have trouble seeing even with correction or are blind). While description was developed for people who are blind or visually impaired, many others may also benefit from description’s concise, objective “translation” of the key visual components of various art genres and social settings. Audio Description is an “Assistive Technology”; it is meant to enhance, not replace the user’s own powers of observation.

Audio Describer(s) / Describer (s)

The person responsible for developing the description to be voiced. As Canadian writer Joe Clark makes clear, describers and voicers serve the audience and the production, not themselves. He explains: “You’re not providing descriptions to show off your vocabulary or to highlight your beautiful voice. You work for the production and the audience. A certain self-effacement is required.” Background in the medium or genre being described can also be helpful.

Voicer (or Voice Talent)

The person who voices the description (in some cases, often in the performing arts, the describer also is the voicer).

The Consultant (s)

The Consultant is a person who is blind or visually impaired, an individual who has experience in the use of audio description, and who has the ability to analyze the descriptions. The Consultant’s role is to ask questions and assist in the creation of descriptions so that a sufficient amount of information about the visual details is included in concise and accurate descriptions. The Consultant offers written suggestions for description delivery so that they flow and dovetail with any existing spoken portion of the subject being described.

CORE SKILLS

This section is intended as an over-arching set of guidelines, applicable to audio description in whatever setting, genre or format it occurs. Later sections provide more specific techniques for the following areas:

- Performing Arts (Theater, Dance, Opera)

- Media

- Visual Art / Exhibitions

THE BASICS

The audio describer is part journalist, faithfully relaying the facts:

WHO

Who is in the image? What do they look like?

- Age
One doesn’t see someone’s age unless the individual being described is wearing a button that proclaims, “I’m 60!” What does he/she look like? Those are the characteristics to cite, the things you see that prompt you to think that the individual is a certain age. In some description formats, of course, time is of the essence, and short-cuts include: In her late forties; in his sixties; pre-teen; teenage.

- Hair/Build/Clothing
Cropped brown hair; long blond hair; red-headed woman; slim; tall; stocky; dressed in a white pantsuit; wearing a blue floral dress; in a bright red sweater; the tuxedoed “Bond.”

- Relationship

Mother, father, son, brother-in-law, etc.—but take care to only specify if it is known.

- Characters / People

Describe individuals by using the most significant physical characteristics.

Identify ethnicity/race as it is known and vital to the comprehension of content. If it is, then all main characters’ skin colors must be described—light-skinned, dark-skinned, olive-skinned. (Citing the race only of non-white individuals establishes “white” as a default and is unacceptable.)

WHAT

To a certain extent the describer’s choices of what to describe are based on an understanding of blindness and low vision:

- Go from the general to the specific—start generally, creating a context, then move to details to enhance understanding and appreciation. Provide visual perspective as appropriate and as time allows. The initial information presented about a scene will create a foundation in the minds of the audience members;

- Use of color—the ITC Standards explain: “Most visually impaired people have at some time seen colours and either retained the visual memory of colour or can remember the significance and impact of a particular colour. … People who are blind from birth or from an early age cannot ‘see’ colours but they do understand the significance of a particular colour by its association. They may not ‘see’ green, but the colour of flower stalks, leaves and grass, which people can touch and smell does mean something.” When asked about the perception of color, a congenitally blind audio description user in Oregon recommended reading Mary O’Neill’s “Hailstones and Halibut Bones,” a children’s classic of poetry and color.

- Inclusion of directional information—whether on a screen, a stage, or in front of an exhibition, some AD users will “see” if you tell them where to look. In addition, directional “pointers” can help AD users organize the information they hear, i.e., going from top to bottom, right to left, clockwise, etc.

- Describe what is most essential for the viewer to know in order to understand and appreciate the image being described.

● What’s happening? What actions are most important for a clear understanding and appreciation of the image(s)?

● Describe expressive gestures and movement (resist any temptation to convey what you may feel is inferred by them, such as an emotional state).

●The oft-referenced “first rule of description” is to “Describe what you see” or

W.Y.S.I.W.Y.S. – “WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU SAY”

What is the critical visual information that is inaccessible to people who are blind or have low vision? Some have already been noted: key plot elements, people, places, actions, objects, unknown sound sources not mentioned in the dialogue or made obvious by what one hears.

Example: Mention who answers the phone—not that the phone is ringing. It’s not necessary to describe obvious sound cues. At times, the source of a sound may not be clear—a description may be appropriate. Indeed, let context be one of the deciding factors in whether to describe sounds. For instance, if the scene is set in an underground cave and a telephone rings, it would likely be important to include “a telephone rings” in the description, as the mere fact that the phone is ringing in such a seemingly odd locale would not typically be contextually relevant, and may be jarring or confusing to the viewer if left undescribed.

- Specificity creates images in the minds’ eye to a far greater degree than a general reference. It is more interesting to hear of the items in a mound of clutter if time permits than to say, “The attic is cluttered.” In other words, be specific when time allows. If at all possible, don’t crunch separate events/images into a single item and provide detail when describing media like a photograph. For example: A series of images: a tidal wave seen from above and below sea level; a shark, its teeth bared, veers in a swift 180o to the right; an octopus shoots a dark mist at a predator before being snatched away. If an image is a photograph—is it color or black-and-white?—what size? Is the woman in the photo simply smiling or is she wearing a broad grin? how many? (5 men, 6 airplanes) position? (He comes up behind her. A car turns left.)

- Less Is More. Description cannot and need not convey every visual image on display. Quality audio description is not a running commentary. Listeners should be allowed to hear actors’ voices, sound effects, music, ambiance in a museum—or experience silence throughout the description. Describers need to differentiate between imagery that has a purely decorative purpose, and that which is relevant to the unfolding action or greater context of the production. At the same time, the describer’s judgment is critical: description should facilitate understanding as well as convey an appreciation of the image.

The ITC Standards cautions that “However tempting it is to use colourful imagery and elegant turns of phrase, clarity is the main aim of audio description. As a rule, too much description can be exhausting or even irritating. The [image being described] should be allowed to breathe from time to time, allowing [it and its] atmosphere to come through The describer must learn to weed out what is not essential.”

And Joe Clark adds (in speaking of description for media), “Describe when necessary, but do not necessarily describe.”

Ask yourself: “What is most critical to an understanding (he points to his head) and appreciation (his hand is on his heart) of that visual image?”

Think: Can I visualize what’s happening without becoming confused?

Feel: Did I correctly convey the emotion of the scene?

WHEN/WHERE

- Time of day (is it light or dark? Cloudy or sunny?) and location.

For example: The sun sits low over the horizon. (Is it a sunset or is the sun rising? Often we don't know if it's a sunset or sunrise – for example in a nature program where 8 seconds of burning red sky is used as b-roll. In this example, the image needs to be described (briefly) without characterizing it further. A full moon. A clock: 7:00 a.m. A city park. A 2-story brick townhouse. Under a wide portico. On a raised platform near a gazebo.

HOW

- Be clear, concise, conversational: Use “everyday” terms. Describe a technical term, then name it, e.g., “she bends at the knees, a plié”; limit the use of slang or jargon unless appropriate to the content/image being described. Describers are writing for a broad audience. It's advisable to use the language in the program as your guide to vocabulary, sentence structure and pacing. Consider the material—and use language that is consistent with its content,keeping in mind that correct language structure and syntax—a sort of “spoken grammar”—are important elements of any description.

- Point of View and Narrative Tense Deliver description in present tense, in active voice (e.g., “Ted breaks the window,” is preferable to, “The window was broken by Ted.”) Use third-person narrative style to show neutrality and noninterference.

- Consider your audience.

If you know that your audience is primarily young people, use simple language structure in your descriptions. Similarly, match vocabulary to the material being described.

- “We See”

Avoid telling your guests that “we see” or notice or view—it’s a given. In general, the use of terms like “a view of” or “comes into view” should be avoided. These are understood—it is a given that what is being described is within the view of the audience, and using such terms robs precious seconds from the available “quiet parts” during which description can be inserted.

- Vary Verb Choices
How many different words can you use to describe someone moving along a sidewalk? Why say "walk" when you can more vividly describe the action, as appropriate, with "sashay," "stroll," "skip," "stumble," or "saunter"?

- Definite/Indefinite Articles

Use “a” instead of “the”—asword, instead of the sword, unless there’s only one sword. If the sword has already been introduced, it becomes “the” sword.

- Pronouns

Use pronouns only when it is clear to whom or what the pronoun refers.

- Multiple Meanings

Identify words that have multiple meanings; be sure that the intended meaning is conveyed.

- Interpretive [TL] Adverbs/Gerunds: -ly words and -ing words: Suspiciously, furiously, nervously. Ask yourself: “What is it that you see that prompts you to think that he/she looks suspicious, furious, or nervous? Instead: “raises her eyebrows”, “clenches her fists”, “twists a napkin”. “-ly” words should be used sparingly, only if timing leaves no other option. For instance, there are cases with “hurriedly” or “quickly” might be used appropriately in a described passage. Use “-ing” words in phrases, not as continuing present tense, e.g., “Stomping up the stairs, he…” instead of, “He is stomping up the stairs.”

- Objectivity

The best audio describers objectively recount the visual aspects of an image. Subjective or qualitative judgmentsor comment get in the way—they constitute an interpretation on the part of the describer and are unnecessary and unwanted.

Let listeners conjure their own interpretations based on a commentary that is as objective as possible.

So we do not say "He is furious" or "She is upset. “ Rather, "He's clenching his fist" or "She is crying. “ Rather than “It’s a dream.” or “She dies.”, the objective describer might say: “Through a white mist, Joan runs through a field.” or, “His head lolls back and his eyes close.” Describers must differentiate between emotion or reasoning (which requires an interpretation on the part of the observer) and the physical characteristics of emotion or reasoning (which are more concrete and allow description users to conjure their own interpretations) and prepare their description with this important distinction in mind. For instance, instead of “Johan likes the chocolate milk,” say, “Johan sips the chocolate milk, then licks his lips.